Purple vs Portnox
Purple and Portnox both offer cloud RADIUS for enterprise WiFi, but the products sit in different categories. Portnox is a cloud-native NAC — network access control, agentless device profiling, posture assessment, and wired + wireless coverage under one policy engine. Purple is a WiFi platform — guest, staff, and multi-tenant networks with captive portal, analytics, and marketing automation alongside RADIUS.
Last fact-checked 2026-04-24. Portnox: cloud-native network access control platform with integrated RADIUS, device profiling, and risk-based policy.
Best for Purple
Venues and enterprises where WiFi is the primary surface — retail, hospitality, stadiums, MDU, coworking — and where captive portal, analytics, marketing automation, and iPSK matter as much as the auth plane.
Best for Portnox
Organisations whose primary driver is network access control across both wired and wireless, with device posture, agentless profiling, and risk-based policy as the headline requirements.
Feature-by-feature comparison
| Feature | Purple | Portnox |
|---|---|---|
| Product category | WiFi platform (Guest + Staff + Multi-Tenant) with cloud RADIUS | Cloud-native NAC with integrated RADIUS |
| RADIUS-as-a-Service | Yes — multi-region, full EAP methods, per-AP billing | Yes — included in the NAC subscription |
| Wired network coverage | WiFi-first; wired via standard 802.1X | Full wired + wireless NAC, including switch enforcement |
| Device profiling | Basic device classification | Agentless profiling and fingerprinting is a headline feature |
| Posture assessment | Via MDM integration | Native — posture checks on connect and periodically |
| Captive portal | Full brandable portal builder with marketing automation | Guest portal functionality available; not the product focus |
| iPSK (Identity PSK) | Yes — first-class product, powers Multi-Tenant WiFi | Limited — 802.1X-first |
| Analytics | Footfall, dwell, repeat-visit, cohort benchmarks | Security- and compliance-oriented reporting |
| Marketing automation | Purple Engage — email, SMS, CRM, loyalty | Not in product scope |
| Identity provider integration | Entra ID, Okta, Google Workspace, JumpCloud, SAML, LDAP | Entra ID, Okta, Google Workspace, Active Directory |
| Compliance | ISO 27001, GDPR, CCPA, B Corp | SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, GDPR |
| Pricing transparency | Published pricing calculator | Published per-endpoint pricing available |
When Purple is the right call
If the driver is customer-facing WiFi — captive portal, branding, analytics, marketing automation, multi-tenant iPSK, or venue-scale guest experience — Purple is built for the job and Portnox is not. Also, teams running Cisco, Aruba, Ruckus, Juniper Mist, Meraki, and Ubiquiti across a varied venue estate find Purple's hardware-agnostic posture more natural than a NAC that wants deep switch integration.
When Portnox is the right call
If the driver is network access control across wired and wireless — agentless device profiling, posture on connect, risk-based policy, and unified visibility of every endpoint on the corporate network — Portnox is purpose-built. Security-first enterprises with SOC teams that own the network will find NAC depth that no WiFi-first vendor matches.
Frequently asked
Does Purple replace a NAC?
Partially. Purple handles RADIUS-based 802.1X authentication and per-device VLAN assignment, which covers the most common NAC use case for WiFi. What Purple does not do is agentless device profiling, posture assessment against a compliance baseline, and wired-switch enforcement — those are NAC-specific capabilities that Portnox provides.
Can I run Purple and Portnox together?
Yes. A common pattern is Portnox for wired / corporate-endpoint NAC and Purple for guest, staff, and multi-tenant WiFi — particularly where the WiFi use case calls for captive portal and analytics that Portnox does not focus on. They share identity and coexist cleanly.
Which is more appropriate for a retail or hospitality chain?
Purple, in most cases. Retail and hospitality place the customer-facing WiFi experience at the centre — captive portal, first-party data, loyalty integration, analytics — which is Purple's core. Portnox is more natural in industrial, healthcare, and regulated-enterprise contexts where endpoint posture matters more than guest UX.
How do the two compare on RADIUS specifically?
Both deliver cloud RADIUS with multi-region redundancy, EAP-TLS, PEAP, Entra ID/Okta/Google Workspace integration, and SIEM feed. The difference is what sits around it — Purple adds captive portal and analytics; Portnox adds agentless profiling and posture checks.
See Purple running on your infrastructure
Purple deploys as a cloud overlay on your existing access points — Cisco, Aruba, Ruckus, Juniper Mist, Meraki, Ubiquiti. No hardware swap, live in weeks.
